The UK Border Agency has reacted with fury to a court ruling allowing a Sudanese asylum seeker who raped a 12-year-old girl to remain in Britain.

Sani Adil Ali (28), originally from Darfur and part of a threatened tribe, came to Britain in 2003 and was awarded refugee status in February 2005. A few months later he was arrested at his home in Middlesbrough and later admitted one count of raping the girl, who was Hungarian.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to take action on the legislation that helps foreign criminals stay in the UK.

Ali was reportedly jailed for three years and released in 2008, when the Home Office ordered that he return to Sudan. But he appealed to the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber.

He was allowed to stay because deporting him, the ruling showed, would be contrary to the UK's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “We do not believe this individual needs or deserves refuge in this country.”